Personal sound amplification products (PSAPs), are low-cost hearing devices that can range from just $10 to $500 and can be purchased without a prescription or even a hearing evaluation. They are sound amplifiers that are not tailored to an individual’s specific hearing loss.

However, many people with hearing loss are turning to PSAPs for help. And it’s understandable. The PSAPs on the market today look identical to hearing aids, are marketed to those with hearing loss just as hearing aids are, and are often much less expensive.

For those looking for low-cost hearing aids or those that don’t think their hearing is “bad enough” to warrant a hearing aid, it is understandable why a PSAP is being utilized instead.

Our #1 Pick

LifeEar BOOST Sound Amplifier

The LifeEar BOOST personal sound amplifier has 12 band digital signal processing that does more than just “turn the volume up.” Utilizing digital noise reduction, output limiting, feedback cancellation, and wide-dynamic-range-compression, the LifeEar device can help you focus on what you want to hear, without the distrubing background noise. Plus the device is easy to use and comes assembled in the box with clear user guide instructions.

What is a PSAP?

A personal sound amplification product (PSAP) is not a hearing aid.

There are some similarities between PSAPs and hearing aids, as well as some big differences. The main difference between a hearing aid and a PSAP is its regulations (or lack of) and intended use, as outlined by the FDA.

Hearing aids are intended to compensate for impaired hearing, while PSAPs are not.

According to the FDA, “PSAPs are intended to amplify environmental sound for non-hearing impaired consumers. They are intended to accentuate sounds in specific listening environments, rather than for everyday use in multiple listening situations.” According to the FDA, PSAPs should not be considered replacements for hearing aids, nor should they be considered an over the counter (OTC) hearing aid.

Since the recent FDA draft guidelines on hearing aids and PSAPs in 2013, other hearing technology such as hearables have emerged, further muddying the waters.

In addition, a lot of focus in the US hearing healthcare industry within the past few years has been about the affordability and accessibility of hearing aids, which many believe is a big problem, and the major reason why so many people with hearing loss do not seek help, or rely on PSAPs for management of their hearing loss. You can read more about the current state of hearing healthcare here.

Before discussing PSAPs in more detail, it is important to understand the current hearing device technology differences.

Personal Sound Amplification Products (PSAP): PSAPs can be purchased directly by the consumer, without the need for a consultation from a hearing healthcare professional. There are FDA regulations for labeling products as personal sound amplification products but there are no regulations for manufacturing standards of PSAPs.

Hearing Aids: Hearing aids are Class I medical devices that are regulated by the FDA in regards to manufacturing and must be registered by the FDA. They are intended for prescription by a hearing healthcare professional following evaluation and consultation of the person’s hearing level.

Hearables: Hearables are a newer type of wireless earpiece that are being used to enhance sound, as well as additional features such as health monitoring and audio Bluetooth streaming. There are currently no FDA regulations for hearables when it comes to sound amplification.

Over the Counter Hearing Aids, Non-Prescription Hearing Aids, Ready-to-wear Hearing Aids: Several different names exist for hearing aids being sold direct to consumer without medical evaluation or prescription. There are no current FDA regulations but there is pending legislation for the creation of this category with regulatory standards. Read more about OTC hearing aids here.

What makes a good PSAP?

Because PSAPs are under-regulated, there is significantly limited data on their performance in real-world situations. A few studies have looked at the performance of several PSAPs using real-ear measurements and found that they under-amplified the high frequencies and over-amplified the low frequencies.

Since most people have greater difficulty hearing high frequencies, this would prove a PSAP to be useless for a high-frequency hearing loss. Especially because a lot of the energy of background noise occurs in the low frequencies, making the PSAP wearer perceive the amplified low frequency sounds as “noisy”, with no improvement in speech clarity.

A recent study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) compared the speech understanding in noise of participations with mild to moderate hearing loss while wearing a popular hearing aid (Oticon Nera) and 5 different PSAPs. The speech understanding improvement without any amplification to the hearing aid was 11.9 points, a positive improvement, while the improvement of 4 of the PSAPs ranged from 4.9 to 11.0 points. However, one of the PSAPs tested (that retails for $29.99) actually caused the speech discrimination scores to get worse by -11.2 points while wearing the devices versus wearing no amplification at all.

Top 18 Best Personal Sound Amplifiers

We created the table below so you could have a place to quickly compare each of our picks. Below the table you’ll find another section that goes into more details about each PSAP, if you’re still unsure which one to go with.

A closer look at each PSAP

We’ve gone through each of our top picks and listed the major features of each. If you’ve still got any questions after reading this section then feel free to leave a comment below and we’ll get back to you.

Why should you trust us?

Hearing health and safety is our highest priority when it comes to the recommendations we make on Everyday Hearing. Therefore, for this PSAP review article we have removed all the personal sound amplifiers that we know have potentially dangerous output levels (>120 dB).

Using any hearing device at high sound levels can be damaging to the user and that is why we have removed those PSAPs as options in the list above.

Based on our research, we also found that very low-end PSAP devices (<$50) showed very little hearing benefit and can actually have the opposite effect…actually blocking sounds and acting more like an expensive earplug. Therefore, we have also eliminated the very low-cost PSAP devices from this review (<$50).

Some things to consider when buying a PSAP

We have been hesitant to write about PSAPs because at Everyday Hearing we understand the value of the hearing healthcare professional and believe that anyone who suspects they have a hearing loss should see an Audiologist for proper evaluation and treatment. We recommend that you have a hearing evaluation before considering one of the PSAP devices listed above.

Final thoughts

When it comes to purchasing a PSAP device, not one PSAP is going to be right for every person. It is going to depend on what your individual needs and wants are from the device.

For example, some devices have Bluetooth capabilities but most don’t. Some are worn on or in the ear and are very discreet, and others are worn as headphones.

You will want to consider what function you are wishing to use the PSAP in. Use our information in the charts and lists above to narrow down which PSAP would be best for you. If you have questions, feel free to leave a comment below and we will get back to you.

Comments

I was tested at Duke medical center and was told I have moderate hearing loss in both ears. I have the print out but am unable to convert the chart to usable information. I think that a psad would help me and be more in my price range. What do I look for on the chart to see if this is a possibility?

I am a licensed hearing aid specialist. A few things to consider before purchasing any non programmable device are as follows..how much loss do you have in the high frequencies, how often are you in background noise, and what is your Word Recognition score percentage. If your high frequency (anything from 1.5k-8k Hz) thresholds are above (less than) 55dB, a PSAP would probably work for you…If you are not in that much background noise (going out to restaurants every once in awhile, attending a meeting a couple times a month, a relatively non-noisy work environment) then a PSAP may work for you…If you Word Recognition percentage is above 85%, then a PSAP may work for you. There are clear advantages to investing in a digital, programmable hearing aid (the programmable part is the biggest) but if you have some loss in the highs, live a relatively quiet life and have good speech understanding, you may be able to get by with a PSAP. And if you are just dipping your toes into the world of hearing amplification I would say give an amplifier a shot, just make sure you check the return policy because you may quickly realize that while it helps every now and then, a real hearing aid may be what’s best for you in your everyday life for the long haul.

Unfortunately there’s not much the chart will tell you for a PSAP because PSAPs are one-size fits all, they cannot be adjusted for your hearing loss anyways. If you have a more flat hearing loss you may benefit more from a PSAP.